When is serious pain acceptable?

Answer: When it will prevent a lot worse pain.

That is where the nation is at this point in its fiscal history.

The national debt hit $22 trillion last Thursday.

Congress has been responsible for the irresponsible debt growth (both parties) as it plays a political game. Neither party wants to be accused of shutting off the gravy train that has allowed the debt to grow to such unconscionable levels. Control of the national spending problem would have forced shutting down some of the elected officials’ favorite vote buying programs – expanded health care for one.

Meantime, leftists in Congress are calling for more free programs.

Of course, there’s a method to the madness. If they can get enough people on the government spending spree, they can take away their freedoms without much pushback.

Justin Bogle, a senior policy analysis in fiscal affairs at the Heritage Foundation, observes:

“The impact of a breathtaking number like $22 trillion is hard to comprehend without context. At more than 107 percent of gross domestic product, as a share of the economy the gross national debt is higher than it has been since 1947. The debt has been higher only three times in U.S. history, all in the immediate aftermath of World War II. “If the national debt were divided among every person in the U.S., each of us would owe more than $67,000.”

Have you got that much cash to fork over to the IRS to cover your portion of that debt? Few would. Even well-to-do families would be hard-pressed to do so if they had to pony up $67,000 for each of their immediate family members.

Worse yet, the problem is expected to grow.

Bogle explains:

“The primary factor that has led the federal government to this precarious situation is out-of-control mandatory spending. These so called “autopilot” programs are not subject to the annual appropriations process.

“Specifically, spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is driving much of the government’s longterm spending growth.”

Discretionary spending also has contributed to the debt problem. The Budget Control Act of 2011 capped discretionary spending from fiscal years 2012 to 2021. However, six times in eight years Congress has modified the caps, with the most recent deal increasing spending by nearly $300 billion.

There’s also the issue of more than $250 billion in uncapped disaster and emergency spending that Congress has appropriated since 2013. Much of this funding was used to abuse the caps in the budget law, not for legitimate disaster and emergency needs.

And carrying debt doesn’t come cheap. The CBO projects that in the next decade, the amount of money spent on interest payments on the federal debt will rise by 186 percent. In just six years, the country is projected to spend more annually on interest payments than national defense. Just as in over-spending household income, national mindless spending has consequences, like higher interest rates, less buying power for your dollar through increased inflation and higher taxes.

Suffocating debt creates huge problems for any entity – individual, business or government. Bye-bye American dream.

Bogle says the good news is its not too late to do something about the problem and its crippling consequences. He proposes that lawmakers put the U.S. budget on a path to balance it, placing a cap on all non-interest spending.

Contrary to what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, we don’t owe it to ourselves.

MarketWatch lists the breakdown of the nation’s $21.21 trillion debt at the end of June 2018 as follows: Federal Reserve, $2.38 trillion (11.2 percent); U.S. government, $5.73 trillion (27 percent); U.S. investors, $6.89 trillion,

(32.5 percent) and foreign investors, $6.21 trillion (29.3 percent).

Americans own 70 percent of it, but China and Japan loom large, MarketWatch adds, noting that China likely owns even more of U.S. debt purchased through entities in other countries, such as Hong Kong, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands, all of which are havens for tax shelters. Russia has slashed its Treasury holdings to a mere $15 billion from a peak of $153 billion in mid-2013 amid worsening tensions with the U.S.

So far there’s little evidence that other countries will follow suit to strike back at the U.S. amid ongoing trade disputes. Many need or want Treasury bonds and notes as a safe place to park their savings.

The U.S.’s share of the debt totals $5.73 trillion, mostly through Social Security and federal pension funds.

The Fed last year began to partly sell off the vast hoard of Treasurys it snapped up to lower interest rates and flood the economy with cash during and immediately after the Great Recession, MarketWatch says.

Back to Bogle, who comments:

“By 2041, the CBO projects, spending on Social Security, health care programs, and interest on the debt will consume all U.S. government revenues.

“As a second step, Congress should reinstate a numerical debt limit. The current suspension of the debt limit expires March 1, meaning that at some point in the coming months Congress will have to address the debt limit. If not, the Treasury Department’s ability to borrow for deficit spending will be constrained.

“Suspensions of the debt limit mask the true consequences of spending decisions by Congress. Lawmakers should not raise the debt limit without first adopting a plan that controls spending in a way that offsets any increase to the limit and moves toward achieving a balanced budget within 10 years.

The national debt is a bipartisan problem. If left unchecked, it will hurt all Americans regardless of race, gender, or political beliefs.

We will need a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility from lawmakers to dig the country out of this hole. But at $22 trillion in debt and climbing, the consequences of not doing anything would be disastrous.

Congress should pay attention to, and act on, this dubious budget milestone.